Evaluate two (2) key changes in J.C. Penney’s management’s style from the company’s inception to the current day. Indicate whether or not you believe the company is properly managed today. Provide support for your position. James Cash Penney started his business empire in 1902, opening his first store called the Golden Rule in Kemmerer, Wyoming. He provided dry goods such as work clothes, fabric and sewing supplies to coal miners and their families. His business philosophy was to hire good employees, train them well and sell a good quality product at a small mark up to keep prices low (McInnis, n.d.). He and the company followed this philosophy for over 40 years growing from one store to over 2,000. He believed customer service was the most important aspect of a successful business and focused his efforts on trying to improve his customer’s experience. He also believed in getting his managers and an employee invested in the business, by offering part ownership in the stores and was one of the first companies to offer stock options to regular employees. Under current management today, the company has gotten away from JC Penney’s philosophy and the company has suffered because of it. The issues started before Ron Johnson was hired as the new CEO in 2012. JC Penney’s had become just another retailer that jacked up prices, just to then discount them to lure in customers. Just .02 percent of all products sold at JC Penney’s in 2011 were sold at full price (Guinto, 2013). This is contrary to the JC Penney’s philosophy of providing a quality product at a small mark up. Ron Johnson was brought in to try to invigorate the company. He tried to go back to the basic premise of offering good quality products at a reas... ... middle of paper ... ...because of JC Penney’s returning to its roots of providing its core customer base with the products they desire. One key change to the management structure that may be beneficial to meeting the changing needs of the customer and the changing market environment is elevating the marketing department in the decision making process so that the company can identify the customer it wants to sell to and stocking the store accordingly. If JC Penney’s wants to regain its core customers then it needs to listen to those customers and provide good quality products at a fair price and not try to be a high end, boutique department store. If it does want to be a high end department store, then it needs to develop a marketing plan that supports that direction. Either way, the marketing department has to be significantly involved in charting the course of the company.
a: Compare and contrast the CSR efforts of three of Timberland's competitors. How do they compare to and/or differ from Timberland's efforts?
CP has two concerns, first, establishing a stronger organizational system that will unite both locations, and second, how to effectively manage a growing number of employees. Because of their lack of experience in operating multiple stores, CP has retained Management Improvement Consultants, LLC (MIC), to develop and purpose a new organizational and control system for their newly expanded business.
Nordstrom is one of the top retailers in the United States. With a solid brand image and a sound financial situation, Nordstrom is relentless in their expansion in the US, and are beginning to expand into international markets. Nordstrom takes pleasure in providing state of the art client support and having experienced sales people. In order to hold their position as the most successful high-end retailer in the United States, Nordstrom must continue to figure out ways to improve their brand image and customer satisfaction. Nordstrom’s current business working strategy is successful but I believe there are a few ideal solutions that the organization could apply to further enhance the organization. Due to the aggressive characteristics of the fashion retail store market, it is crucial that Nordstrom preserves an aggressive advantage providing the highest level of customer support as possible.
Q1. How did the competitive environment change for John Deere Company between the 1970 and 1980?
The company had to be the second largest retailer shop in the US; it has many advantages that come along. The customers well acknowledge the company and its brand have been well established.
The purpose of this memo is to show the affects of how Albertson’s is trying to implement many strategies in order to try, and compete with its powerhouse competitor Wal-Mart. This memo will contain information on steps Albertson’s is taking to gain back some of the market share that Wal-Mart has swallowed up. It will also describe Albertson’s planned innovations that will be what determines their success. Lastly it will discuss how through IT as well as a successful implementation of satisfying consumers demands, will possibly allow them to compete with the ever so powerful Wal-Mart.
Some core competencies that must be exploited are: Brand Kmart is an existing well-known and trusted national brand in USA Kmart has private label and designer clothing that is well endorsed Infrastructure Kmart has a large number of well-located, low-cost, leased stores in urban far away from competitors through out the country ( Appendix B ). Staffing Confidence by the market in Kmart is created by the achievements of its staff and management. With the turn-around strategy in place, new blood has been put into the top management structures. In any renewal there will be retrenchment as unprofitable stores are closed. This can be used as an opportunity to retain and move high performing staff to where they are needed and to get rid of non-performing staff. Anderson the chairperson of Kmart is well supported by Wall Street and the board of Directors. These new staff members enter the company with needed skills to address problems in certain areas that previously were poorly managed such as inventory control and merchandising. Store locations, layout and Performance Stores conveniently located away from competitors like Wal-mart and Target therefore less to compete for customers face-to-face. There are 250 non-performing stores who have already been identified as being more cost effective to close than continue with running costs. Expertise exists in-house for the planning of store layout and appearance to meet different customer segments. This concentration of effort will enable focus on key areas Technology Kmart has already invested in good retailing systems. The system can be use to control inventory, supplier payments, track customer buying and monitor income versus profit margins across all stores. Research and Development The planning department is well established and in cross-functional to provide various perspective. The planning department to ensure that strategies at all levels are executed can further use the access to past data and knowledge of changes in buying patterns. Financial Backing JP Morgan Chase has agreed to support Kmart to avert the current threat of closure due to bankruptcy.
Marzilli, T. (2013, April 24). Long-Term Look At Brand Perception Shows J.C. Penney Losing Ground Vs. Kohl's. Retrieved April 07, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/brandindex/2013/04/24/long-term-look-at-brand-perception-shows-j-c-penney-losing-ground-vs-kohls/
Management experience will also play a large role in the success of the forecast. The current team is quite new and will gain some needed experience over the next year in the hopes of staying on track for success. The ability of management to ensure product is readily available for the client, their training techniques with new and seasoned associates, and general management style will ensure success or spell defeat for the store.
By the 1980s, just before the rise of Wal-Mart, Kmart had become complacent. It believed it would be the king of discount retailing, now and forever. It didn't perform an accurate SWOT analysis, but to be fair, who could have seen the rise of Wal-Mart to the position of the world's number-one retailer? Still, as Wal-Mart built new stores in town after town, supported by cutthroat pricing and solid logistics, Kmart's complacency would cost them. Part of the problem was that as Wal-Mart was pouring money into information technology (IT), Kmart's IT budget continued to shrink – not just once, but several years in a row. While Wal-Mart's logistics and supply chain management got sharper, Kmart's stagnated. And while Wal-Mart was able to squeeze more value out of its stores and its systems, Kmart lost ground. By the time Kmart had finally decided to start devoting more resources to IT, it was so far behind Wal-Mart that catching up would have been a near-impossible task without the recession in the early part of this decade. With the effects of the recession taken into account, Kmart instead was consigned to also-ran status among discount retailers.
JCPenney is a chain of American mid-range department stores that is based out of Texas that started over 100 years ago. JCPenny has been successful for most of its time up until the last three to four years. The company is trying relentlessly to overcome the lingering effects of the makeover that former CEO, Ron Johnson, had implemented in order for the company to take a new direction in hopes of increasing sales. The new CEO, Myron Ullman, has taken a close look into the markets demographic segmentation along with the income segmentation in order to attempt to return the retailer back to its old self, which is to appeal to middle-market customers. A couple issues of major concern for the company are the dissolving of Johnson’s Boutiques, the price of their products, and overall revenue.
Target Corporation being a retail industry, the structure by product grouped to a functional level practices works the best. This is necessary for the other functional levels to collaborate as a single team to produce a positive customer shopping experience. Target Corporation further divided the functional level into a geographic area to exercise management tasks effectively with the given authority. Each structure of the management at the geographic level has a strategy discussion, a line of communication, growth, and progress reporting according to the corporate reporting plan. Jana Potts who manages Target Corporation store has closer to 300, 000 employees working for her and the effective can be improved if the role is broken within domestic into channels, stores into broader segments and a separate global position. The rapidly growing online channel and global expansion are necessary to support Target Corporation's strategy of internal growth and sustain it for long term sustainability. These structural changes will allow Target Corporation to connect with its employee at a functional level and bring changes faster, track and monitor the
Question 3: It’s clear that, in general, the company’s growth initiatives were sound in terms of generating the growth expected by Wall Street. But which of Starbucks’ initiatives, in retrospect, were sound decisions for the brand and which were inconsistent with brand
Read the short Kmart case study on pages 161-162 carefully and answer the following questions:
In section V, I will give my analysis of Sears and some suggestions for things that they can do to change their strategies such as keeping customer’s and employees happy and staying out of trouble with stakeholders.